still not buying it. no frakking way was he average defensively. you are probably the only pens fan that thinks he was decent.

he sucked, the entire team sucked, they were embarassing, lets accept it and move on.

The entire team didn't suck though. That's a gross oversimplification.

You're right, Crosby did get outplayed by Giroux. Malkin did get contained by Couturier. But they didn't suck, they just didn't play up to their usual high standards while the Flyers played above theirs.

Letang's in that same boat. He's a product of a blanket revisionist history that's too lazy to evaluate each player on his own merits that series.

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but there is more to winning hockey games than points, particularly for a d-men, yadda yadda yadda, plus/minus, mike green, [insert various boring arguments here].

Production's a big part of a player's value, and when they're dominant in that respect, they deserve consideration.

Karlsson's already better than Green was defensively during his glory days, and is producing similar numbers without the benefit of a powerhouse offense like the Caps. I prefer Weber, but Karlsson was as good a Norris choice as any.

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im not advocating trading letang now or even in the future. but i do not believe this current version of letang is worth seven million dollars to the penguins. the strength of the pens prospects is obviously in the blueline, with guys who play a somewhat similar role (if not exact same style) to letang. the benefit of having those young players in a cap world is obviously you can pay them a lot less than vets. despres, morrow, etc obviously aren't sure bets to even be NHL players, but its not outlandish to suggest they might one day become top pairing guys. its not like i'm suggesting bortuzzo can become shea weber.

But you are suggesting that these teenagers will be able to make a well-rounded 50 point defenseman redundant in 2 years. I like our blueline prospect pool as much as anyone, but that's just not reasonable.

I'm not sure if you want a blueline comprised entirely of kids in their early 20s, or you think we're just going to get a better defenseman than Letang in free agency for less than he'd sign for, or what. It seems hyper-optimistic to me.

Martin and Orpik - you jettison. Letang - you build around.

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its literally almost the exact the same thing that happened with gonchar. if the young fellas can step in, contribute and give management confidence they can be top notch defensemen in the league, you dump the overpriced veteran.

It's really, really not. One was a depreciating asset on a 35+ contract, the other is a 25 year old coming into his prime.

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maybe ill feel comfortable giving letang big money when this team actually goes somewhere in the playoffs with him as their #1 d-man. but so far, eh, not so much.